Last week we had the chance to sit down with Ryan Bidan, Director of Product Markting at Samsung Mobile, as part of our ongoing Android Insiders series. The Galaxy S III is one of the largest Android product launches of the year so we wanted to talk about the Galaxy brand and what it represents to consumers.

We also chatted about TouchWiz, unlocked phones, and customer loyalty programs, so check out the full interview below and let Samsung know how much you appreciate them taking the time to sit down and talk with the Android community.

Android and Me: The messaging for the Galaxy S II was “Screen, speed, and content.” What should the Galaxy brand represent to consumers?

Ryan Bidan: For us the Galaxy brand is our flagship brand. I want it to be defined to consumers as the best Android device experience period. In this case we happen to be talking about the Galaxy S III, our flagship Android phone.

A year ago when we were talking about the Galaxy S II, part of it was the market was in a very different place and what we needed to do with that launch was something different. We basically brought out a world beater phone that decimated the competition. It was hands down the best Android phone across the line and did a great job.

I think the market has changed quite a bit in the last year. I think there are a lot of really great devices out there. For most consumers this idea of “speed and screen”, those kind of factors, the speed particularly and the power of the hardware are becoming less relevant of a differentiator. You move from this place where it was megahertz, gigahertz, and cores and now we are trying to move beyond that. Is my quad-core really better than a dual-core from the next generation?

What we are trying to do here is define Galaxy S III as being the flagship device experience in totality from design, performance, and on-device software. I don’t want you to worry about what’s going on under the covers. We make all the components. It’s the best device available for you and it’s going to have the best experience.

Yes, its got a great screen and lots of power under the hood, but what I want you to think about is how great it feels to use, how fluid it is, and things we have done with the software.

AAM: How important is Samsung’s content ecosystem to the success of the Galaxy S III?

RB: On the content side, it’s a bit of an open market for us. So you’ve got Google’s offerings, a lot of 3rd party offerings, carrier offerings, and in some cases you have Samsung’s offerings. For us it has always been about providing choice for the consumer. So in markets where there aren’t any 3rd party providers or markets where there aren’t solutions to provide that kind of content, we’ve gone out and done some of those.

Obviously the US market is very mature in terms of content delivery in a lot of ways. There are lots of incumbents in those markets, so our strategy has been more likely to work with them than provide solutions against them.

So that’s part one. Do I think that Samsung’s content ecosystem is important for the success of this device? Absolutely. I think a big part of the device experience today, the expectation around the device experience, is that ‘I’ve got my content. I can enjoy my content.’

And for Samsung, having various components of the ecosystem, it becomes how can I share that content. Whether it’s with my TV, or my tablet, or across other devices.

AAM: Specifically, I’m curious about Samsung’s Game Hub. I saw Samsung preview some new games at their Unpacked event like Gameloft’s Asphalt 7. Do you think we will see Game Hub in the United States?

RB: I think gaming as a content solution is very important. Do I think we need to provide great gaming solutions for our customers? Absolutely. Will that be in the form of Game Hub or some other way to deliver that content? I’m not 100% sure right now.

AAM: For a customer that purchased the Galaxy S II and loved it, what do you see as the key reasons to upgrade to a Galaxy S III?

RB: If I was talking to a specific user I would totally dig into what they are doing with their device today and tell them how much more awesome the Galaxy S III is. In general I think the things to look for are best in class hardware, a great camera experience - we got the 8 megapixel shooter and all the advanced features like burst shot and zero shutter lag, and we now got the HD screen with the 4.8 inch 720p HD Super AMOLED display. It looks much better and has more information on the screen. And you now have Ice Cream Sandwich and the latest Samsung enhancements to it.

AAM: What is the future of TouchWiz going forward? There is no mention of TouchWiz in Samsung’s online marketing for the Galaxy S III. Is Samsung going to devalue it?

RB: My take on it, and the way I have characterized it is actually the opposite. What we are trying to do is not separate TouchWiz as a separate element, so much as help consumers understand it’s part of the Samsung device experience. It’s not this add-on, but it’s deeply integrated into how you experience this Samsung device.

Whether it’s lock-screen customizations, or gesture UX, or any of those kinds of elements that we have gone and extended, those kinds of additions to Ice Cream Sandwich that we think are interesting – that for us is now part of your Samsung device experience.

I don’t think calling out TouchWiz as a separate application or having it thought of as this separate thing is particularly useful.

AAM: How do you see the market for unlocked phones in the US evolving over the next couple of years?

RB: It’s a challenging one because the issue has always been the market in the US, or North America, is so very different than the rest of the world – the position of the carriers, subsidized devices, and all that kind of stuff.

I think unlocked devices are very interesting, but I think it’s very much an enthusiast audience at this point. It’s those people who would be willing to import the phone from overseas anyways. When we are talking about something like a Google Experience device, like the Galaxy Nexus, it is a very focused kind experience that [consumers] are looking for.

How do I think about the unlocked thing? From a consumer point of view I think it would be great to see more unlocked phones. I don’t think the North American consumer is necessarily ready for the market to become that kind of unlocked device market.

We expect our phones to be subsidized. We expect to go in a store and spend $199 or $299 for a flagship device. If we started going in and had to bear the true cost of what those devices were, the model might not be that appealing at the end of the day.

AAM: Why should a smartphone buyer be loyal to Samsung, versus going out and getting the latest, greatest smartphone?

RB: We are changing what we talk about with the Galaxy S III and defining a specific Samsung experience. What we are doing is trying to define and communicate reasons why you want to come into the Samsung ecosystem, but then also stay there. Things like unique features on our devices, great design, unique ecosystem opportunities, and [Samsung's] other device offerings.

I want to get you in the door with a great device experience. The Galaxy S III looks fantastic, runs awesomely, and has a lot of cool features. Then you see all the other things that you can do with your device, that you can only do with Samsung, whether it’s gesture UX, S Voice, AllShare Play, S Beam, that you can’t do with any other device.

AAM: Have you ever considered doing a customer loyalty type program or is that something you leave up to your retail partners?

RB: It’s interesting because we are making this transition to wanting to be closer to our consumer. So when I talk about things like wanting to deliver a Samsung experience, I mean to the end user. I want you to have a relationship with your Samsung phone regardless of what carrier you are on.

As part of that it means us needing to get closer to how those devices are actually delivered to consumers in the retail model and what that purchase process looks like. We are absolutely looking at all kinds of options around customer retention, loyalty, and trade up. Do I have anything to announce today? No, but it’s definitely something we are thinking about regularly.

AAM: Thank you for your time.

Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He resides in Dallas and carries the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and HTC One as his daily devices. Ask him a question on Twitter or Google+ and he is likely to respond. | Ethics statement

Most Tweeted This Week

Wow, AAM didn’t hold anything back in this interview. The guy must have been sweating bullets.

John

Not sure if serious . . .

professandobey

December 2013 is when I will be leaving Verizon Wireless. I’ve been rather fed up with their shenanigans, and this sets the whole thing in stone.

By then I’m sure Republic Wireless, other MVNOs, and the Google Play Store will be ready for my business by then.

professandobey

Sorry, wrong article. My bad.

dcds

Right there. That’s the reason why I always avoid carrier phones. If you’re going to spend 2 years on a carrier, and 80% of this time in anger about their service, that’s a lot of headaches and apprehension to sustain.

I prefer to have the peace of mind of being able to change at will, and not being locked into any carrier, so that I can choose the best service at any given moment.

I know that won’t work well in US (where your phone can potentially work only on the other GSM/CDMA carrier), but on other countries, where you have 4 or more GSM carriers available (sometimes wit the ability to carry 2 SIM cards), it’s good. Not accounting the benefits of having an OEM-original phone, of course.

At least in my point of view, I think it’s better.

Joel

Excellent questions AAM, Great interview – its like he studied for them though, his answers were very corporate scripted yet personal at the same time.
Wish you guys had more time to drill him on things like the next Nexus, ICS for U.S. GS2s and their expectations on the reception of the S3 and carrier variants.

http://androidandme.com Taylor Wimberly

I knew they wouldn’t comment on next Nexus, ICS timelines, or US variants of the SGS3, so I didn’t spend any time on those subjects.

4n1m4l

Where the hell is my Verizon nexus pogo dock

Fulaman

I wish more questioned would have been asked about why they went with an 8 mp camera again that takes photos at a similar/same quality as the Galaxy S II, I also wish that processor would have been discussed and how Samsung will feel if the processor on the iphone 5 outclasses it.

http://www.ndroidgamers.com B2L

What he said about unlocked devices is so true. Quite often I’m asked “what phone do you have”, I explain, show them a few features, then they ask about the price. Typically the conversation ends with them saying “that’s ridiculous, why would you pay so much for a phone?” The average consumer isn’t ready to handle the full cost up front. Signing a two year contract is reasonable, because they don’t see how much more they actually pay over a two year contract.

John

In the US, you still pay the same monthly billing rate, so importing or paying sticker price is a stupid thing to do

Mike

That’s not true at all. I bought my Galaxy Nexus unlocked and I’m paying half of what most people pay for the plan I have. Unlimited minutes, unlimited text and 2gb of data

Fulaman

That doesn’t make sense…how? These plan prices are pretty much set in stone unless you work there.

Baller

I’m assuming he’s either grandfathered in or is on a T-Mobile value (bring your own device) plan. My wife and I have a value plan which is $80/mo (for both of us combined, 2GB of 4G data each, unlimited after that just not “4G”, unlimited text and 1000 minutes) versus a regular subsidized device plan at $140 for the same plan. We bought 2 GNex from the Google Play store, so $800 rather than $400 for 2 similar phones and then we save $60/month so $720 per year on our plan.

http://www.ndroidgamers.com B2L

There are carriers that offer cheap plans, with an unlocked device on a GSM network you have multiple choices. As Baller said he could have T-Mobile; he could also have one of the cheaper prepaid carriers such as Simple Mobile or Straight Talk.

I only pay $45 a month for unlimited everything.

Mike

yep. B2L got it. I’m using straight talk. Same plan. Paying $45/month. Buying an unlocked phone upfront is a lot cheaper in the long run than going with a 2 year contract on a subsidized phone

r1ch

It’s the same here in the UK. I pay £5.21 ($10?) a month for 300 mins, unlimited texts, and 3GB of data (only 3G here) and then pick up the phones “sim free” when I want to upgrade.

It works out so much cheaper that I can only assume the reason other people don’t do it is because they literally don’t have the £200/300 up front for the device they want, and paying more monthly is the only way they can get it.

Trey

Great interview!

I am really hoping they devise a great solution on the last topic. It would be great if they had a Samsung Store, where you could purchase the latest devices directly from them. It would be nice to know that I could purchase their latest offering on launch date regardless of what carrier I am using. Adding on some sort of incentives for upgrading, and they would get many more customers.

Nathan D.

Nice interview

drone3

Full respect to Taylor for the interview it was nice. Maybe next time we can also throw some questions into the bag. Like “as a flagship phone, don’t you think samsung need to rise above the cheap plastics we’ve grown to love in kids toys?”

awundrin

Good job on the interview – Samsung impresses me more and more!

wr

Someone should ask him why the last 2 Galaxy S phones shipped to the U.S. with bugs in tact. Samsung Captive (rebooting problem) and Galaxy S II (AP Mobile data leak problem that was still intact from the previous Spring 2011 European release).

What kind of testers is Samsung currently employing and why can they not detect these problems during hardware testing?

What measures will they have in place to prevent future problems from occurring and are they already in place?

If these measures are not in place yet for the Galaxy S III then similar problems are sure to occur during next month’s release. How soon can Samsung employ these measures?

Magento Developer

This article is showing good representation regarding software overviews. But do you know every steps of developing should be taken carefully by us. We are introducing eCommerce platforms Magento, prestashop and others. It allows users to enable their customers to access their eCommerce sites on mobile platforms. With Magento there is an obvious solution – Multi-Store. This is where you split your inventory up into two or more stores, all being run from a single Magento instance.

Angry_samsunguser

Guess if you want a broken Iphone Ryan Bidan has made one from a free OS and locked out standard features like oh open USB file transfer without some micro-managed monkey app with a 90% hate ratio on the market

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